ai.. XXII. IV. >. 5. 



AND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER. 



87 



a valuable inheritance for liis posterity, is dis- 

 rded and neglected. 



1 a few instances, it i.^ true, some of our n^ri- 

 iral societies have offered premiums for plan- 

 ns of forest trees ; yet as far as I am acijuaint- 

 hese have never been attended with any coiidi- 

 i or recommendaiion.s as to relative location ; 

 at orre time pariiciilarly, I recollect being at 

 E;ricultiiral exhibition, where the chairman of 

 lommittee could not refrain from telling the 

 esslul claimant of a premium for a plantation 

 rest trees, that, in his opinion, he had covered 

 his flourishing grove, the most productive 

 of his arable land. To secure the advanla- 

 3f any operations, they sliould be executed 

 discrimination. 



;elin;j, as I do, somewhat enthusiastic in this 

 ;r, I cannot but hope that it will, ere long, at- 

 from the community an attention somewhat 

 imparison witli its importance; and that our 

 uhural societies may come to see the proprie- 

 giving it a share of that encouragement, 

 h they are wont to bestow on, at least, not 

 important branches of rural economy. 



OBSERVATOR. 



HAM— CURING, &c. 



im, in commerce, denotes the thigh of a hog 

 ar salted and dried, so as to preserve it in a 

 possessing a pungent and agreeable flavor. 

 , Hants, Wilts, and Cumberland, in England, 

 Dumfries and Galloway, in Scotland, are the 

 lies most famous for producing fine hams, 

 e of Ireland are comparatively coarse, and 

 )ut flavor. Tlie hams of Portugal, VVestpha- 

 nd Virginia, are exquisitely flavored, and are 

 ah estimation. 



le method of curing hams in the most cele. 

 d districts, is to rub them very hard with bay 

 tier salt ; then leave them on a stone bench, 

 der that the brine may discharge itself. In a 

 lays the rubbing process is repeated ; about 

 an ounce ol saltpetre being added to each ham. 

 n they have continued about a weeli longer on 

 ench, or in the salting tub among the brine, 

 are commonly hung np to dry in the sides of 

 open chimneys ; some have them exposed to 

 moke of wood, peats, coals, or other sorts of 

 while others carefully avoid having them 

 ed. And when not sold sooner, they are con- 

 d in these situations till the approach of warm 

 her, when they are packed up in casks with 

 ', or the seeds of oatmeal, and consia'ned 

 lie. Hams lose about 20 per cent, of their 

 ht in drying. 



ims may bo cured so as to resemble those of 

 tphiilia, by the following process: — Cover a 

 g ham of pork with dry salt; let it be for 24 

 !, to draw off" the blood ; then wipe it perfectly 

 ind take one pound of brown sugar, a quarter 

 Bound of saltpetre, half a pint of bay .salt, and 

 pints of salt ; incorporate these ingn-dients 

 iron pan over the fire, and stir them contin- 

 tiU they acquire a moderate degree of heat, 

 is pickle the hain must be sufl^ered to remain 

 iree weeks, frequently turning it, when it 

 d be suspended in a chimney for drying, by 

 13 of smoke from no other but a wood fire, 

 smoke from oak saw. dust or shavings, is the 

 for imparting a fine flavor. This smoke con- 

 imperfectly formed pyroligneous acid, which 

 3 agent that communicates the flavor to the 

 tplialiahams. 



In Dumfriesshire, the pickle for hams is some- 

 times made with one-half ale, which renders the 

 hams shorter, and adds greatly to the richness of 

 their flavor. 



The iiiiporls of bacon and hams into Kngland, 

 have heen kept low by the heavy duty of 2S3. ex- 

 acted on each cwt. liut the duly having been re- 

 cently greatly reduced, a large amount of hams 

 cured in Americn will be sent to the English mar- 

 ket. — Farmers' Encyclop. 



HOPS. 

 The hop (Hiwiulus luputus,) is a well known 

 climber, supposed to be indigenous to England, 

 plants of it being found in hedgerows and waste 

 places. The female flowers have been long used 

 in many parts of Europe for the purpose of impart- 

 ing a flavor to beer. It was not, liowever, culti- 

 vated in England for th's purpose, until about the 

 year 1525 ; and as the Reformation was then in 

 progress, tlie introduction of the hop is perpetua- 

 ted by ,he following doggerel : 



'* Hops, hereqy, pickerel, and beer, 

 Were brought into [i^ngland in one year." 



The hop plant delights in a rich loam, or calca- 

 reous sand ; and when these are situated on a cal- 

 careous b'^d, the plants will continue to flourish 

 for many years ; but otherwise ten or twelve years 

 is about tlie limit of their continuance in perfec- 

 tion. Under favorable circumstances, as on the 

 Kentish ragstone, the roots of the hop plant extend 

 in some instances to a depth of eight or ten feet. 

 The hop plant is usually raised from cuttings in 

 the spring. " In the early part of the spring," says 

 .Mr Lance, " the old root begins to bud or shoot 

 from the old stump of the last year's bine, which 

 will have two or more huds ; the crown of the root 

 is then cleared, and these old stumps are cut ofl", 

 or most part of them, the hole covered up, and the 

 crown of the root throws up additional shoots to 

 be tied up the poles. The plant is therefore said 

 to have an aniiu;il stem, but a perennial root. The 

 cuttings, or old stumps, are bedded for a season, to 

 make roots the best way they can from the edge 

 of the cutting ; the plant being exceedingly tena- 

 cious of life, every portion of the crown cutting 

 that has a bud, will grow and throw out roots 

 from the extremity of the woody cutting ; they 

 will make a circle of roots when healthy, and throw 

 up bine from the eyes or buds at the surface of 

 the ground, and oiher roots will issue from under 

 the eyes. The shoots of the former year that may 

 have become covered with earth, will make plants 

 as layers, throwing out many fibrous roots before 

 they are cut off from the stump or crown. Tliis 

 is often the most successful method of obtaining 

 plants, although it may in some measure weaken 

 the old root; but the layer gets the plants a year 

 more forward, as the roots are already formed when 

 the plant is taken from the old stock ; but if all 

 the supernumerary shoots are cut off after the prin- 

 cipal onea are well up the pole, then there can be 

 no suckling plants formed." 



The qualities of the hop regarded by the deal- 

 ers are, the color, scent, seed, and glutinous touch. 

 The Color, which should be a light green, is attain- 

 ed either by a very careful and early picking, or 

 by exposing the hops when drying to the action of 

 fumes of sulphur. By ... posure to the air, howev- 

 ever, the natural brown color of the hops thus 

 treated returns. 



The hop plant is subject to many diseases, to 

 the attacks of caterpillars and other insects, to mil- 

 dew, and to a variety of atmosphfrical inlluenccs, 

 winch renders it ever the sport of the weather, and 



occasions the jiroverbial uncertainty of the crop 



Ibid. 



PLOWING IN GREEN CROPS. 



The plowing in of green vegetables on the spot 

 where they have grown, may be followed as a 

 method of manuring and enriching all land, where 

 other manures are less abundant. Growing plants 

 bring up from beneath, as far as their roots extend, 

 those substances which are useful to vegetation, 

 and retain them in their roots and steins. By 

 plowing in the whole plant, we restore to the sur- 

 face wliat hffd previously sunk to a greater or less 

 depth, and thus make it more fertile than before 

 the green crop was sown. 



This manuring is performed with the least loss 

 by the use of vegetables in the green state. By 

 allowing them to decay in the open air, there is a 

 loss of both organic and innrgaiiic matter: if they 

 be converted into fermented (farm-yard) manure, 

 there is also a large loss ; and the same is the 

 case if they are employed in feeding stock, with a 

 view to tlieir conversion into manure. In no other 

 furni can the same crop convey to the soil an equal 

 amount of enriching matter as in that of green 

 leaves and stems. Where the Jirst object, there- 

 fore, in the farmer's practice is, so to use his crops 

 as to enrich his land, he will soonest effect it by 

 plowing them in in the green state. 



Another important result is, ]hat the beneficial 

 action is almost immediate. Green vegetables de- 

 compose rapidly, and thus the first crop which fol- 

 lows a green manuring, is benefited and increased 

 by it. But partly for this reason, the green ma- 

 nuring of grain-cropped land, if aided by no other 

 manure, must generally be repeated every second 

 year. 



It is said that grain crops which succeed a green 

 manuring, never lodge — and that the produce of 

 grain is greater in proportion to the straw, than 

 when manured with fermented dung. 



But it is deserving of separate consideration, 

 that green manuring is especially adapted for im- 

 proving and enriching soils which are poor in vege- 

 table matter. Living plants contain in tlieir sub- 

 stance not only all they have drawn up from the 

 soil, but also a great part of what they have drawn 

 down from the air. Plow in these living plants, 

 and you necessarily add to the soil more tlian was 

 taken from it — in other words, you make it richer 

 in orfranic matter. Repeat the process with a 

 second crop, and yon make it richer still — and it 

 would be diflicult to define the limit beyond which 

 the process could no further be carried. 



Those soils only are beyond the reach of this 

 improving process, on which plants refuse to grow 

 at all. But for those plants which grow naturally 

 upon the soil, agricultunil skill may substitute oth- 

 ers, which will increase more rapidly, and produce 

 a larger quantity of green leaves and stems for the 

 purpo.^e of being buried in the soil. Hence the 

 selection of particular crops for turning in — those 

 being obviously the fittest which in the given soil 

 and climate grow most rapidly, or which produce 

 the largest quantity of vegetable matter in the 

 shortest time and at the smallest cost. — Johnston's 

 Lectures on the Jl/iplication of Chemistry to Jlgri- 

 cuUure. 



